The Taxidermist's Daughter: A Novel

In a remote village near the English coast, residents gather in a misty churchyard. More than a decade into the 20th century, superstition still holds sway: It is St. Mark's Eve, the night when the shimmering ghosts of those fated to die in the coming year are said to materialize and amble through the church doors. Alone in the crowd is Constantia Gifford, the taxidermist's daughter. Twenty-two and unmarried, she lives with her father on the fringes of town, in a decaying mansion.

The Haunting of Blackwood House

Could you survive a week in a haunted house? Mara is the daughter of spiritualists. Her childhood was filled with seances, scam mediums and talk of ghostly presences. When Mara finally left her family's home, she vowed she would never allow superstition or false religion into her life again. Now she's ready to start over with her fiance, Neil, in a world based on rationality and facts. But her past isn't ready to let her go just yet.

A Quiet Life in the Country: A Lady Hardcastle Mystery, Book 1

Lady Emily Hardcastle is an eccentric widow with a secret past. Florence Armstrong, her maid and confidante, is an expert in martial arts. The year is 1908 and they've just moved from London to the country, hoping for a quiet life. But it is not long before Lady Hardcastle is forced out of her self-imposed retirement. There's a dead body in the woods, and the police are on the wrong scent. Lady Hardcastle makes some enquiries of her own, and it seems she knows a surprising amount about crime investigation...

Cold Moon over Babylon: Valancourt 20th Century Classics

Welcome to Babylon, a typical sleepy Alabama small town, where years earlier the Larkin family suffered a terrible tragedy. Now they are about to endure another: 14-year-old Margaret Larkin will be robbed of her innocence and her life by a killer who is beyond the reach of the law. But something strange is happening in Babylon: traffic lights flash an eerie blue, a ghostly hand slithers from the drain of a kitchen sink, graves erupt from the local cemetery in an implacable march of terror.

Named of the Dragon

The charm of spending the Christmas holidays in South Wales, with its crumbling castles and ancient myths, seems the perfect distraction from the nightmares that have plagued literary agent Lyn Ravenshaw since the loss of her baby five years ago. Instead she meets an emotionally fragile young widow who's convinced that Lyn's recurring dreams have drawn her to Castle Farm for an important purpose - and she's running out of time.

Katharine Decker says:"Amazing story teller, she makes you want to step inside every single story"

The Elementals

After a bizarre and disturbing incident at the funeral of matriarch Marian Savage, the McCray and Savage families look forward to a restful and relaxing summer at Beldame, on Alabama's Gulf Coast, where three Victorian houses loom over the shimmering beach. Two of the houses are habitable, while the third is slowly and mysteriously being buried beneath an enormous dune of blindingly white sand. But though long uninhabited, the third house is not empty. Inside, something deadly lies in wait.

Amy Snow: A Novel

It is 1831 when eight-year-old Aurelia Vennaway finds a naked baby girl abandoned in the snow on the grounds of her aristocratic family's magnificent mansion. Her parents are horrified that she has brought a bastard foundling into the house, but Aurelia convinces them to keep the baby, whom she names Amy Snow. Amy is brought up as a second-class citizen, but she and Aurelia are as close as sisters. When Aurelia dies at the age of 23, she leaves Amy 10 pounds. But Aurelia also left her much more.

Mdplady says:"The best book I've read all year! Probably all this decade"

The Witch's Daughter

In the spring of 1628, the Witchfinder of Wessex finds himself a true Witch. As Bess Hawksmith watches her mother swing from the Hanging Tree she knows that only one man can save her from the same fate at the hands of the panicked mob: the Warlock Gideon Masters, and his Book of Shadows. Secluded at his cottage in the woods, Gideon instructs Bess in the Craft, awakening formidable powers she didn’t know she had and making her immortal. She couldn't have foreseen that even now, centuries later, he would be hunting her across time, determined to claim payment for saving her life.

The Velvet Hours

An elusive courtesan, Marthe de Florian had cultivated a life of art and beauty, casting out all recollections of her impoverished childhood in the dark alleys of Montmartre. With Europe on the brink of war, she shares her story with her granddaughter, Solange Beaugiron, using her prized possessions to reveal her innermost secrets. Most striking of all are a beautiful string of pearls and a magnificent portrait of Marthe painted by the Italian artist Giovanni Boldini.

The Shadowy Horses

Archaeologist Verity Grey has been drawn to the dark legends of the Scottish Borderlands in search of the truth buried in a rocky field by the sea. Her eccentric boss has spent his whole life searching for the resting place of the lost Ninth Roman Legion and is convinced he's finally found it - not because of any scientific evidence, but because a local boy has "seen" a Roman soldier walking in the fields, a ghostly sentinel who guards the bodies of his long-dead comrades.

Ghost Story

For four aging men in the terror-stricken town of Milburn, New York, an act inadvertently carried out in their youth has come back to haunt them. Now they are about to learn what happens to those who believe they can bury the past - and get away with murder. Peter Straub's classic best seller is a work of "superb horror" (Washington Post Book World) that, like any good ghost story, stands the test of time - and conjures our darkest fears and nightmares.

The Medusa Amulet

Benvenuto Cellini, master artisan of Renaissance Italy, once crafted a beautiful amulet prized for its unimaginable power - and untold menace. Now the quest to recover this legendary artifact depends upon one man: David Franco, a brilliant but skeptical young scholar at Chicago's world-renowned Newberry Library.

The Wonder

In Emma Donoghue's latest masterpiece, an English nurse brought to a small Irish village to observe what appears to be a miracle - a girl said to have survived without food for months - soon finds herself fighting to save the child's life.

A Desperate Fortune

For nearly 300 years, the cryptic journal of Mary Dundas has kept its secrets. Now, amateur codebreaker Sara Thomas travels to Paris to crack the cipher.... Jacobite exile Mary Dundas is filled with longing - for freedom, for adventure, for the family she lost. When fate opens the door, Mary dares to set her foot on a path far more surprising and dangerous than she ever could have dreamed.

The Last Painting of Sara de Vos: A Novel

In 1631, Sara de Vos is admitted as a master painter to the Guild of St. Luke's in Holland, the first woman to be so recognized. Three hundred years later, only one work attributed to de Vos is known to remain - a haunting winter scene, At the Edge of a Wood, which hangs over the bed of a wealthy descendant of the original owner. An Australian grad student, Ellie Shipley, struggling to stay afloat in New York, agrees to paint a forgery of the landscape, a decision that will haunt her.

Major Pettigrew's Last Stand: A Novel

You are about to travel to Edgecombe St. Mary, a small village in the English countryside filled with rolling hills, thatched cottages, and a cast of characters both hilariously original and as familiar as the members of your own family. Among them is Major Ernest Pettigrew (retired), the unlikely hero of Helen Simonson's wondrous debut. Wry, courtly, opinionated, and completely endearing, Major Pettigrew is one of the most indelible characters in contemporary fiction.

In the Blood: Jefferson Tayte Genealogical, Book 1

Two hundred years ago a loyalist family fled to England to escape the American War of Independence and seemingly vanished into thin air. American genealogist Jefferson Tayte is hired to find out what happened, but it soon becomes apparent that a calculated killer is out to stop him.

A Curious Beginning

As the city prepares to celebrate Queen Victoria's golden jubilee, Veronica Speedwell is marking a milestone of her own. After burying her spinster aunt, the orphaned Veronica is free to resume her world travels in pursuit of scientific inquiry - and the occasional romantic dalliance. As familiar with hunting butterflies as she is fending off admirers, Veronica wields her butterfly net and a hatpin with equal aplomb, and with her last connection to England gone, she intends to embark upon the journey of a lifetime.

A Journal of Sin: A Sarah Gladstone Thriller, Book 1

A murdered priest leaves behind records of confessional secrets. Secrets someone would prefer he took to the grave. A small town in the English countryside isolated by a severe storm, and a young female officer, alone and out of her depth. A troubled priest is brutally murdered, leaving behind a journal of the residents' confessional secrets; secrets certain people would have preferred he took to the grave.

The Other Daughter: A Novel

Raised in a poor yet genteel household, Rachel Woodley is working in France as a governess when she receives news that her mother has died suddenly. Grief stricken, she returns to the small town in England where she was raised to clear out the cottage...and finds a cutting from a London society magazine, with a photograph of her supposedly deceased father dated all of three month before. He's an earl, respected and influential, and he is standing with another daughter - his legitimate daughter.

The Firebird

Nicola Marter was born with a gift. When she touches an object, she sometimes glimpses those who have owned it before. When a woman arrives with a small wooden carving at the gallery Nicola works at, she can see the object’s history and knows that it was named after the Firebird - the mythical creature from an old Russian fable. Compelled to know more, Nicola follows a young girl named Anna who leads her into the past on a quest through the glittering backdrops of the Jacobites and Russian courts, unearthing a tale of love, courage, and redemption.

Lost Among the Living

England, 1921. Three years after her husband, Alex, disappeared, shot down over Germany, Jo Manders still mourns his loss. Working as a paid companion to Alex's wealthy, condescending aunt, Dottie Forsyth, Jo travels to Wych Elm House, the family's estate in the Sussex countryside. But there is much she never knew about her husband's origins...and the revelation of a mysterious death in the Forsyths' past is just the beginning.

Thrice the Brinded Cat Hath Mew'd: A Flavia de Luce Novel, Book 8

In spite of being ejected from Miss Bodycote's Female Academy in Canada, 12-year-old Flavia de Luce is excited to be sailing home to England. But instead of a joyous homecoming, she is greeted on the docks with unfortunate news: Her father has fallen ill, and a hospital visit will have to wait while he rests. But with Flavia's blasted sisters and insufferable cousin underfoot, Buckshaw now seems both too empty - and not empty enough.

The Summer Before the War: A Novel

East Sussex, 1914. It is the end of England's brief Edwardian summer, and everyone agrees that the weather has never been so beautiful. Hugh Grange, down from his medical studies, is visiting his aunt Agatha, who lives with her husband in the small, idyllic coastal town of Rye. Agatha's husband works in the Foreign Office, and she is certain he will ensure that the recent saber rattling over the Balkans won't come to anything.

Publisher's Summary

March 1928. The Great War has been over for 10 years, but Freddie still hasn't recovered from the loss of his brother. Even now, on holiday in south-west France, he cannot escape his grief.

When his car crashes, Freddie stumbles down from the hills to a village nearby. There he meets Marie, a beautiful young woman who is also mourning a lost generation.

Her story of the fate of her family moves him deeply. But it will also lead Freddie to the caves above the village - and to the heart of a shocking secret. By turns thrilling, poignant and haunting, this is a story of two lives touched by war and transformed by courage.

I'm not sure there's a plot here. Just self involved ruminations by a young man regarding his dead brother. There's no suspense and no "ghosts". The only interest was the setting in rural France which does give a touch of "atmosphere." Unfortunately the narrator is a boring as the "story."

I am always reluctant to leave a negative review for anything; after all people have worked hard to produce something which I myself could not do, why then cast aspersions? I do so on this occasion principally because I wish to save any other trusting soul from wasting a good credit and 5 hours of their life on this wearisome tosh.

Marketed as ghost story it is less frightening or shocking than just plain dull; the characters are never more than two dimensional and the sentiments expressed never less than trite. This is the first book by Kate Mosse that I have ever read or listened to and it will be the last. I only thank my stars that I started with a novella rather than one of her epic novels!

6 of 6 people found this review helpful

Siobhan

Ennis County ClareIreland

10/28/09

Overall

"excellent reader"

I gave this review 3 out of 5 stars only because if you've read Kate Mosse's Sepulchre and Labyrinth, you know the formula for this book. If you're a fan--it's worth the read. I was disappointed that the book was so short--pretty much a glorified short story. The reader, however, does an INCREDIBLE job and really brings the story to life. Definitely worth an Audible credit, I just wish the book was longer.

6 of 6 people found this review helpful

Peter

Brighton, United Kingdom

3/29/12

Overall

"More wistful than frightening"

Lots of good things about this book, a loner haunted by grief arrives in a strange town, grappling with an uncertain reality. As you'd expect from Mosse, there was nicely-researched Cathar history.

I found the overall effect far more wistful than frightening, however. Although atmospheric, the book's pace was too languorous to build real tension. It may have benefited from a hard edit.

Despite this, well worth a listen as an Audiobook. Nice, understated narration, though I wish they'd not interspersed it with the toe-curling music.

2 of 2 people found this review helpful

Brooksies

Belgium

6/27/12

Overall

"What is the clue?"

Maybe I am not clever enough, but I really could not see the clue in this book, it feels like the story has to still start at the end. Thank god it was short.

It was my second Kate Mosse book, I loved Labyrinth but did not think much of this one and was very disapointed.

1 of 1 people found this review helpful

JANE WILSON

9/29/11

Overall

"UNMEMORABLE"

This book was chosen by my reading group, so I had to read/listen. On previous performance, I would never have read another Kate Mosse book by choice, and this one lived down to my expecations. I just do not "get" Kate Mosse. This was a boring rather daft story involving spirits of the dead. A waste of space.

1 of 1 people found this review helpful

Brenda

littleborough, United Kingdom

6/25/11

Overall

"The winter ghosts"

This audio book held my attention right through and I was totally entranced. The characters are well rounded and believable, so is the setting. I was right there, in France, during a snowy winter. This book is an expansion of "The cave", a very short novella for the adult literacy project, but "Winter ghosts" stands alone. The story begins after the First World War and the main character is a man whose brother died on the Somme. He is still mourning and has travelled to France in an attempt to recover from a breakdown. His car skids and he makes his way to a village where they are preparing to celebrate an annual festival.
Downloading this book in audio format was great for me as I do not speak French. It was wonderful to listen to the narrator reeling off the French names and places in an impecable accent which was a pleasure to hear. I would recommend this audio book without reservation.

1 of 1 people found this review helpful

Claire

Chinnor, United Kingdom

3/31/11

Overall

"A nicely set atmosphere"

I was attracted to this book, having read Labyrinth and because it is, once again, set in the wonderful French countryside. The story is a simple one, but the atmosphere is built up well. The reader portrays the two main characters well and his voice is very good to listen to. A very enjoyable 'read'.

1 of 1 people found this review helpful

Patricia

LimerickIreland

3/20/11

Overall

"Winter Ghosts - absorbing!"

This was a curious read, interesting and absorbing, it was like being transported in time. I recommend it if you would like something a little different.

1 of 1 people found this review helpful

Rebixx

Notts, UK

1/16/11

Overall

"Lovely story"

I found this a lovely story of a gentle man altered by grief in a very believable way. It was well read and successfully immersed me in the life of the story. I look forward to listening to it again.

1 of 1 people found this review helpful

keziah

11/2/16

Overall

Performance

Story

"Perfect winter tale"

At first I struggled with the narration, but I stick with it. The story is gripping and very atmospheric. I enjoyed it a lot.

0 of 0 people found this review helpful

Report Inappropriate Content

If you find this review inappropriate and think it should be removed from our site, let us know. This report will be reviewed by Audible and we will take appropriate action.